


morning, noon, day, or night

by lackingmelanin



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Amy POV, F/M, Post Season 3, idk this wrote itself, is it coherent? who knows!, mainly amy/charles/rosa/gina centric, so much peraltiago but also not ??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-07 14:51:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10362912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lackingmelanin/pseuds/lackingmelanin
Summary: Or Five Things that Changed with Jake in Witness Protection and the One Thing that Really, Really Didn’tThey brought down two federal agents who had worked for one of the most notorious mob bosses in the country. They saved Captain Holt’s life. She had spent way too long in a women’s prison with a fake baby bump attached to her, had to beat Jake up and “step” to a woman who had killed several people. Didn’t the universe- or the federal government, or the mob- owe her for that? Doesn’t she deserve some time back in Brooklyn working normal cases with her boyfriend? Shouldn’t she be able to approach Holt for tips about staying calm when taken hostage?Apparently, the answer to all of those questions was a hard no.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is somewhat non-canon. Holt was not promoted to PR, and is therefore not replaced in this universe; Terry takes over as acting Captain in his absence. Jake and Amy don’t kill Dozerman, but there was some sort of angsty beginning like that that I might get into later because the “screw light and breezy” scene is the reason I’m alive right now. I basically made a bunch of small adjustments to serve my plot points so feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an ask on tumblr if you need clarification on anything!  
> Title from The Anchor by Bastille because it's a Jake and Amy song if I've ever heard one.

When Amy first heard that Figgis had called Jake, she almost thought it was a joke. They had gone through too much that day alone, there was no way she had just gotten back with the squad and her boyfriend and her mentor were going to be taken from her again. Regardless of all of her worrying on her way back from Texas, the squad had succeeded. They brought down two federal agents who had worked for one of the most notorious mob bosses in the country. They saved Captain Holt’s life. She had spent way too long in a women’s prison with a fake baby bump attached to her, and had to beat Jake up and “step” to a woman who had killed several people. Didn’t the universe- or the federal government, or the mob- owe her for that? Doesn’t she deserve some time back in Brooklyn working normal cases with her boyfriend? Shouldn’t she be able to approach Holt for tips about staying calm when taken hostage? 

Apparently, the answer to all of those questions was a hard no. Charles had gotten her through her spiral on the plane, sure, but those two being relocated while she had no knowledge of their whereabouts was just inviting a continuous spiral until they returned.

Amy Santiago was not a whiner, and she was rarely as hysterical as she felt while trying to process what she had just been told. She was loyal almost to a fault, and would never call herself selfish. She wants those she loves to be safe- that’s the reason she became a cop. Her instincts were always to protect those she cared about, and when she realized Figgis’ call was serious, the gut reaction to do whatever she had to do to keep two of the most important people in her life safe was certainly there. Her idea of keeping them safe, however, did not include an indefinite amount of time apart. Her first frantic idea was actually to just lock them in her apartment and organize a detailed schedule for guard duty with various trusted members of the squad, but Jake wasn’t as receptive to that as she had hoped.

(“Ames, c’mon,” he said, gazing at her with the usual smile in his eyes. “Or is your name not Amy anymore? Should I call you Mother Gothel from now on?” 

“I don’t know how you’re making jokes right now,” she replied huffily. “And I’m not sure how I feel about you having Tangled references ready to go.”

That was a lie, and they both knew it. She loved it. And she loved him, which is why she needed him to be serious about this.

“I need you to be serious about this.”

“I’m not the one suggesting actual locking in a tower. You know you don’t want Holt living in your apartment anyway, I don’t know if you’d make it through knowing there had to be a flaw for him to notice and never bring up to you.”

At her unimpressed glare, he softened and pulled her to him. 

“It’s all gonna be fine, babe. I promise.”

They both knew it was a promise he had no control over keeping, but she clung to it almost as hard as she clung to him in that moment.)

Without even giving her a grace period to come up with better plans, Witness Protection had swept in. While Holt and Jake were being briefed behind the shut door of Holt’s office, Amy had the sudden feeling she had only experienced when the Vulture was around. These were her people, they had done all the work to get to this point, and they could finish it without a problem. When she looked around the precinct to find someone to share her feelings with, however, she deflated quickly. 

Gina was sitting on the break room couch, a place she usually avoided due to Hitchcock and Scully’s decades of use, not trying to listen in on the meeting and not even pretending to use her phone. Charles was at the table to her left, slowly tracing his finger over a spot of spilled coffee and not attempting to make conversation. Rosa was glaring harshly at the closed blinds of Holt’s office, which briefly rekindled hope in Amy, but she was also repeatedly cracking her knuckles, which was the only sort of tick Amy had ever noticed her exhibit. 

Amy sighed as she sat alone at her desk. Embarrassingly enough, she felt a lump in her throat when she imagined even more time away from Jake. She had never been the type of girlfriend who had to constantly spend time with the guy she was dating (which was actually the cause of a few of her breakups, but never something she felt compelled to change), but Jake was not like anyone she had ever dated. Whether it was because they were partners for almost a decade before they became a couple or just because of the type of man he was, the events that would otherwise seem like an exciting career highlight only served to make her chest feel tight.

After the WITSEC agents had left and Holt had excused himself to talk to Kevin, Amy stood and met Jake in the bullpen. 

“I’m gonna say goodbye to everyone and then head to my mom’s,” he said quietly. “I’ll meet you at yours after?” 

“Yes, please,” Amy said, trying not to seem too desperate while forcing herself to release the hold she had on Jake’s arm. “I’ll see you later.”

He gave her a weak smile before turning to walk into the break room. Charles looked like he was about to vibrate out of his seat before Jake gave him the same, sad smile he had given Amy. The moment he opened his arms, Charles jumped from his seat to embrace him. The hug was long, with several pats on the back and hushed, grave tones from Charles. As funny as a ten minute Jake/Charles hug would be under any other circumstances,  Amy found herself blinking away tears. The tears only got worse when Jake finally extracted himself and turned to Gina. She had never seen Gina look as vulnerable as she did in that moment, and the tears in Amy’s eyes refused to be contained any longer. She had to look away from the break room, and instead found herself facing Rosa. She couldn’t make eye contact, only raising her head when she saw Jake’s feet cross the bullpen. Rosa allowed herself to be pulled into a hug, and even she looked choked up when she punched his arm afterward. Terry was waiting by the elevator to walk them all down. 

“You’re going to be fine, Peralta,” he said when the group found their way over to him. “My work kids are still my kids, and Terry doesn’t let his kids get hurt.” 

He bumped his shoulder into Jake’s, who looked like he was leaning into it briefly.

“I know, Sarge. I expect to be back for the twins’ birthday,” Jake replied. “The best uncle in the world has been planning their gifts for weeks already.” 

This seemed to be what made Terry tear up and pull Jake into a real hug.

Eventually, after what seemed like the longest day any of them could remember, they stood silently in the elevator- Terry leaning on the back wall, Rosa with her motorcycle helmet tucked under her arm, Gina looking straight down as if she were checking her phone but really avoiding people’s eyes, and Amy and Charles flanking Jake on either side. With this group around her, Amy knew that Jake and the Captain would be back as soon as possible. In that moment, she wasn’t even worried about the changes that would be coming. She just wanted find Figgis. 

 

_ Change #1: Partnering on Cases _

Amy might have overestimated her ability to deal with the changes that came when Jake and Holt left. Beyond the lack of their presence in her life, the way the precinct operated had to shift to account for the two missing members. Amy already longed for the easy agreements she and Jake made when working a case; they had a rhythm that she was finding hard to recreate with Rosa or Charles. 

When she finally got over the constant ache from looking across her desk to ask Jake to see if she was missing something in her case file, or when she would look back in the morning to where he always sat in the briefing room when Sarge announced a somewhat interesting case, she was itching to get some new files and get some normal work done. Working with Charles and Rosa on the informal Figgis case when they had a few hours away from the precinct was very different from working with them on day-to-day B&E’s or drug busts. The Figgis case was driven by a determined desperation in all of them, and there was rarely a moment that they weren’t completely focused. When it got to that point, they simply went home. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option at work.

“Amy, would you mind calling the medical examiner about the Wilson case, please?” Charles asked from across the bullpen. “I just really think they’re missing something. This doesn’t feel like natural causes to me.”

“I’ve called them three times in the past two days already, Charles,” she replied, forcing herself to paste a smile on her face. “And I told them to call me immediately if something came up. Which they agreed to do. Two hours ago. When I last called them.” 

“Yeah, I just,” Charles sighed and twirled his pen, shaking his head. “I just really don’t think it’s natural causes.”

At that moment, Amy felt more anger than she had when she was dieting with the Sarge and Gina. 

“ _ Why  _ would it not be natural causes? The man was 84! And about three  _ hundred  _ and eighty four pounds! I’m surprised he lived as long as he did! That’s what we should be asking them about!” she snapped, hitting her palm on her desk. 

“Detective Santiago,” Terry called, standing in the doorway to Holt’s office. “Can I speak to you?”

Amy pushed her chair back violently before slowing her movements when she saw Charles’ startled face. She forced herself to take deep breaths as she walked over to the office and took a seat in a chair opposite Holt’s desk. 

“Amy, I can’t imagine how difficult this is for you,” he started slowly, sitting in the chair next to her, “but you gotta remember that you’re not the only one missing Jake here.” Amy bowed her head as he pressed on. 

“Charles misses sounding ideas off of him, and he’s pushing through all of his cases to avoid dealing with the fact that Jake isn’t here to talk it out with him. And Rosa has been working with him since the Academy, and now she can’t. Nevermind the fact that two of the only people she actually enjoys aren’t able to be around her for the same reason. She’s feeling what you’re feeling about Jake in regards to Pimento, on top of missing Jake himself who is arguably her best friend.” 

Amy winced when she remembered fighting with Rosa the day before.

(“Santiago, I need you on door duty while I talk to the mom about activity she might have noticed,” Rosa said before striding into the kitchen where the mom in question was staring at the police in her house as if one of them was suddenly going to crack and tell her the cocaine she’s been told her son had been selling out of her home was all a big joke.

Amy groaned quietly and snapped her gloves off.

“Why do we need door duty for this, Rosa? We know he was dealing, we know he was selling out of here, what could the neighbors possibly tell us?”

Rosa turned back to her.

“I am the primary on this case, Santiago, and I want to know if the neighbors saw anyone sketchy around the apartment in case the kid decided to wise up and realize that selling crack out of your house when you still live with your mother is idiotic and move the drugs. Not that I need to explain myself to you,” she said harshly.

“Excuse me for thinking it’s a waste of time,” Amy snapped back. “If you would let me keep searching, I would be happy to do door duty  _ if  _ we don’t find anything.”

“We have six uniforms sweeping the entire apartment, and I know you think you’re the only capable person in this precinct, but right now you are the one wasting my time and I need you on door duty.”

“Oh I’m sorry that you’re upset I’m offering advice, Diaz, but I’d rather be capable than think that I’m better than everyone I work with because I’m too afraid to smile,” Amy said angrily.

“If you’re not out of this apartment in the next thirty seconds I am calling Sarge and telling him to send Boyle down here instead. Don’t test me, Santiago.”

“Fine! Call Sarge! Get Boyle! I’d rather sit at my desk with Hitchcock and Scully than even look at you right now!” she called while storming out the door, not looking back to see Rosa’s head drop.) 

“You need to take it easy on them. It’s important for us to get along now more than ever,” Terry finished, trying to gauge Amy’s reaction.

“I know, Sarge, and I’m sorry. I’m just a little off kilter without Jake around. And I know tensions are a little high anyway. I’ll apologize to Boyle and make sure to be more patient in the future.”

“I expect nothing less, detective. Now I believe Charles had a call he wants you to make?”

Amy sighed with a smile. Maybe she wouldn’t be able to mimic the easy partnership she had with Jake, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t calm down and work well with Charles and Rosa. It’s not like she’s never worked a case with them before, and Jake not being in the precinct shouldn’t affect her ability to work with others like she had in the past. Filled with a new determination to keep her professional life free from Jake related complications, she re-entered the bullpen to apologize to Charles.

 

_ Change #2: A Cleaner Precinct  _

The first day Amy entered the Nine-Nine, she had somehow managed to log some important details through her haze of nerves. First, there were a lot of strong personalities there. She saw Rosa screaming at Hitchcock and Scully, who- in rare form, though Amy didn’t know it at the time- were screaming back. Something was being yelled about food, and, when Charles cut in to make sure no one had eaten his lunch for that day, the three of them joined forces to yell at him, apparently to make sure he knew how gross it was. Without knowing any of these people, Amy was incredibly nervous until the very intimidating but very sweet Sergeant she had spoken to on the phone found her and welcomed her. Second, she noticed that Sergeant Jeffords seemed to be in charge. It didn’t look like anyone was in the Captain’s office, and, from the attitudes of the other detectives, it didn’t seem like he had real order of the precinct, or was someone who was constantly called away for important meetings. When the Sarge somehow gently yelled over the noise, he reminded them about what he had apparently told them in the past about making a good impression. At this, the noise quietly considerably. As disappointed as she was to learn that her Captain wouldn’t exactly be a mentor, it seemed like there were plenty of things she could learn from the Sarge instead.

Thirdly, and arguably most importantly, Amy learned how much the precinct loved Detective Jake Peralta.

“Sarge! Why couldn’t you stall her longer? You know we had no chance at making a good impression before Jake came back,” Charles had whined earnestly.

“He is the most... personable,” Rosa added. “Would’ve distracted from Hitchcock and Scully a little more.”

“Hey! We’re not the problem!” Hitchcock interjected.

“Yeah,” agreed Scully, “you’re the one who ate our sub!”

At this, the argument started again. Terry had met her eyes and offered her an apologetic smile.

“It’s not usually like this,” he had promised. “The Captain’s not in yet, but I’ll show you to your new desk. You’ll be across from Peralta-” 

“Lucky,” Charles muttered behind her.

“-but he closed a pretty big case last night so he’s coming in later. I’ll let you get settled, and we’ll do formal introductions at this morning’s briefing,” Sarge finished. Amy smiled, eager to make a good impression. She was sure she had looked shellshocked when she first walked in, and the seminar she had attended last week stressed how important first days were in a professional environment. She would have to tread lightly for a little while, and definitely show no fear. 

Instead of asking where the Captain was like she wanted to do so badly, she decided to take a seat at her new desk and set up her organizational system so it would be ready for her first case. As she was putting her various binders and file holders where they should go, however, she couldn’t stop her eyes from scanning the desk across for her own. 

There were two large stacks of files- one overflowing to the point where she didn’t know how it was still standing, and one that had brightly colored sticky notes with question marks marking the edges of several papers. After seeing that alone, Amy was itching to reorganize the whole desk. Not everyone could create systems like she does, and maybe once she gets this Jake Peralta set up, his desk would be more organized! But by the point she saw the half eaten bagel, congealed coffee spill, and broken Rubik's cube, she never wanted her new partner to return.

As the best things do, it got worse before it got better. Jake returned and somehow made his desk messier by the end of Amy’s first week. All of her gentle and polite suggestions about ordering systems were laughed off. Jake infuriated her in the beginning, until she saw what a good cop he was. After she respected his skill, it was easier to see him in a more flattering light. She still wanted to fix his desk, and he still hurt her feelings fairly frequently, but both of those died down when Holt showed up.

Holt gave the precinct the order it needed under McGinley, the order that Sarge had been trying to give it. He created a new labeling system for the bullpen and started making Jake do his paperwork correctly. Amy was blown away. Her respect for the new captain was higher than she had ever imagined because of the way he had bettered Jake. 

Regardless of the positive effects Holt had on Jake, along with the ones Amy herself had when they became friends and eventually began dating, Jake was still Jake. He and Rosa would still find every excuse to use the fire extinguishers. He and Gina would chat over nail polish and coffee and leave discolored circles on every surface. He would be busy with a case and forget to take his leftovers out of the fridge, or put his mug in the sink. As much of an effort as he was making, Jake Peralta was still a messy person. It was endearing at this point, she admitted, but Amy never thought it would be something she would miss. 

She didn’t even realize the cleanliness of the precinct was upsetting her until Rosa pointed out that she was finding excuses to stick around for an extra half hour every Tuesday after her shift ended. 

(“Santiago, go. Home.” Rosa said, suddenly appearing in the break room where Amy was pacing between the sink and the fridge. “I know it’s Tuesday but you need to go.”

“What do you mean ‘I know it’s Tuesday?’” Amy asked absentmindedly, still looking around the room.

“It’s Tuesday. You stay late to clean up Peralta’s messes on Tuesdays. I don’t know why you can’t go home and find something to do for an extra half hour. Watch a  _ telenovela _ . Get an extra serving of perogies and take your time eating them. You do not need to be here.” Amy scoffed.

“I do not stay late to clean up Jake’s messes. And it’s not like I stay after  _ every  _ Tuesday.”

“Yes, you do,” Rosa said flatly.

“No, I don’t,” said Amy, hearing how childish she was sounding but not finding it in herself to be embarrassed. 

“Boyle,” Rosa called, arms folded. “Come in here, we’re talking about Jake and Amy.”

“Oh, my favorite topic!” Boyle said eagerly before sticking his head through the break room door. “What about them?”

“Doesn’t Amy stay after  _ every  _ Tuesday to pick up after Peralta?’ she asked. 

“Oh, yes. The domesticity of it all makes my heart sing. You’re going to be such a great motherly figure for your little ones to follow, have we talked about how you and Jake are the perfect parenting team?”)

Not having a Jake created mess to clean up upset Amy more than it should have. There were things she had expected to miss while he was gone: his apartment, his cooking, the well-loved quilt his Nana had made him, feeling his heat in bed when the last thing she wanted to do was get up, his jokes, his gentle teasing, just, well, him, really. But it seemed like every day there was another invisible part of her life that Jake filled, and she was finding it harder and harder to deal with them. 

The Tuesday after Rosa had spoken to her, Amy made sure to say goodbye to her and Charles at five o’clock on the dot when her shift ended. If she went home and climbed into bed a half hour early, knowing she would wake up freezing in the middle of the night, it was nobody’s business but her own. 

 

_ Change #3: Gina  _

For the first few weeks Holt and Jake were gone, the entire precinct was blanketed in melancholy. Charles was back in his Matrix getup, Rosa barely threatened anyone, Terry only put new pictures of his girls on his desk instead of showing them to everybody, and Amy came in to do her work and leave without any attempts to organize anything extra. 

The most sobering change, however, was Gina.

Gina and Jake had a relationship that was basically impossible to understand. There was a decades deep love for each other, an inherent understanding, that made itself known in small ways everyday. Whether it was Gina silently taking Jake’s phone when she somehow knew he had the urge to call his dad or Jake seeing through Gina’s bravado and bringing her a guilty pleasure pastry because she was upset, they were more than best friends.They were more than coworkers, more than friends, more than family, truly; they had picked each other in elementary school and neither of them took that lightly. 

In addition, and somewhat more bizarrely, Gina was the closest to Holt. She read through his robot-like exterior and figured out what he needed that he refused to ask for. She made sure to have a good relationship with Kevin, creating a tie between him and the squad that Holt had craved but never thought possible. She was the perfect assistant, even without doing much actual assisting, because she clearly loved and respected Holt. 

All of Gina’s fondness came out in ways that were odd to the untrained eye. She teased Jake mercilessly, and was harsh on him when others might say it was uncalled for. She didn’t do a lot of scheduling or paperwork for Holt, and sometimes spoke to him in a way many would call unprofessional. Honestly, whether people believed it or not, Gina Linetti was a fantastic friend to have. Unfortunately for Amy Santiago, Gina’s was not a friendship she was lucky enough to experience personally.

Gina and Amy never really got off on the right foot. When Gina first started at the Nine-Nine, she took an immediate dislike to Amy’s outfit, and made sure to let her know. She had only heard stories of each member of the squad from Jake, and already had the idea that Amy was a boring, pretentious rule-follower. Gina warmed up to Rosa quickly, had always been nice to Terry because of his “impressive physique,” stuck up for Charles in a very condescending (but also big sister-esque) way, and even discussed Game of Thrones with Hitchcock and Scully. She clearly loved Jake, and eventually Holt, but the one person she never warmed up to was Amy.

For Amy, it was frustrating and upsetting to be so clearly left out of another group. She had gotten along fine with each member of the squad individually, but once Gina arrived it was clear she was the one who made all the plans for non-work related gatherings. She wanted to be a part of the group, even just to grab a quick drink at Shaw’s, but she was too proud to accept a pity invite from Charles or Terry. Eventually, Jake and Amy became good friends, and, though she has no proof that it actually happened, Amy’s pretty sure Jake talked Gina into inviting Amy places when the group went out. That doesn’t mean the teasing stopped, or that Gina actually enjoyed Amy any more than she did in the past, but being friends with Jake was enough of a social protection for Amy at the time.

Once Amy and Jake started dating, Amy expected Gina’s comments to get a lot more mean spirited. She was very overprotective of Jake, especially when it came to dating, and every day Amy waited for the announcement that Gina did not support their relationship. She knew Jake liked her and cared for her a lot, but she honestly wasn’t sure that would be enough to keep the relationship going if Gina gave her open disapproval. 

To Amy’s surprise, that day never came. Gina seemed to quickly accept their relationship, still making comments about Amy being boring, she never even jokingly voicing doubts about them dating. Amy was quietly touched. Somehow she felt like Gina’s approval was more important and harder to get than Jake’s mom’s. No binder in the world could prepare Amy for Gina Linetti. 

Jake was enough of a link between Amy and Gina for the most scathing comments to stop. Amy was even starting to enjoy Gina’s teasing a little, feeling a bit like a giddy underclassman being accepted into a group of super cool seniors. 

With Jake and Holt gone, however, Amy wasn’t sure how Gina would act at work. She feared her reaction would be to aggressively close everyone off again and go back to hitting the rest of the squad where it would hurt the most. Gina’s actual change in behavior was somehow much more upsetting than all of the options Amy had considered.

Gina became genuinely sad. 

This was not an over dramatic sad like when she was kicked- or, rather, danced- out of Floorgasm or told everyone her spirit animal was now a naked mole rat. This was a sad where she would look up from her phone with a smile to meet Jake’s eye and be visibly shaken when he wasn’t there. A sad where she would spin in her desk chair, mouth already open to call for Captain Holt, before remembering he wasn’t there either and slowly spinning back. Gina Linetti started doing actual work at work, and that’s what made Amy step in.

“Hey, Gina, we’re all going to Charles’ house to look at some Figgis stuff if you wanted to come with,” Amy offered one day on her way out of the precinct.

“I’m not a cop,” Gina replied, eyes glued to her phone. “Although I am smarter than all of you, I don’t think I’d be much help.”

Even the usual Gina boast sounded half-hearted and forced. 

“We really value your opinion, I think you’d be a lot of help,” Amy tried again. “And even if you didn’t want to help it’d be nice to have your company.”

This is what made Gina look up from her phone suspiciously.

“You don’t like my company. You’re groveling like a Boyle right now. And I am unfortunately very well acquainted with the Boyle groveling,” she said suspiciously. “What do you really want?” Amy sighed.

“We’re all getting dinner and looking at some files. We are all friends, and we all miss Jake and Holt, too. I just thought maybe you’d like to hang out for a little bit- maybe help us bring them home, or at least talk to some people who understood what you’re feeling. We’re a little worried.”

“First off, I do not need your pity. The mighty wolf does not care if a forest squirrel wants to check up on its well being. Secondly, we are not friends. We are work acquaintances with drastically different fashion senses.” With this, Gina stood up. “And thirdly,  _ none  _ of you know what I’m going through. Jake is my brother, and Captain Holt is like a son to me.” 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“However. I will attend this dinner and help you, if my meal is paid for, and I choose the restaurant,” Gina sniffed. “I don’t trust any of you to understand what it takes to fuel a dancer’s body.” Amy smiled.

“Sure thing. Thanks for your help.” 

(That night, Gina picked the meal. Rosa, Charles, and Amy chipped in to cover her portion. Charles and Rosa seemed as relieved as Amy to see Gina back in her element a little bit. They made plans to go to Shaw’s that Friday, and Amy felt like she was finally starting to have a friendship with Gina. That was only solidified further when she received a text as she entered her apartment after dinner.

_ thx for the invite. i know u guys miss j and holt 2. dinner again next thurs? i’ll let any1 other than boyle pick. eye roll emoji.  _

Amy smiled, and sent back an “Of course! See you tomorrow” before climbing into bed.

Even the  _ if u tell any1 abt this i’ll end ur life skull emoji _ she saw after shutting off her alarm in the morning wasn’t enough to bring her down.)

From then on, Gina was more upbeat. She didn’t go back to normal exactly, because she seemed to actually enjoy Amy- one day, when a perp tried to charge out of the holding cell, Gina helped Amy take him down with no more than a nod before jumping into action. What Terry had said was true, it was more important for them to get along now more than ever, and Amy finally felt like she and Gina were on the same team. Though she couldn’t wait to get Jake and Holt home, maybe all the changes weren’t so bad.  

 

_ Change #4: Meeting the Family _

One of the things Amy loved most about Jake was how much he cared for his family. He loved his mom an incomprehensible amount, and few things made her happier than seeing the two of them together. It was clear how much love he still carried for his Nana years after her passing. Even the way he interacted with Gina made it obvious she was near the top of his list of important people. 

Amy Santiago herself was no stranger to familial love. With seven brothers, two loving parents, and an excessive amount of extended family, she knew a thing or two about how to care for people, and how to be cared for in return. She knew Jake envied the relationship she had with her brothers, and felt like he was missing out without any siblings. All of these facts put together made it a complicated day when Amy finally met some more of Jake’s family.  

One Wednesday, a month and a half into Jake and Holt’s absence, Amy found herself alone in the bullpen. Sarge was home sick with the girls, Rosa and Charles were out following a lead about a possible new string of Giggle Pig, Gina had placed her infamous “gone leaving” sign on her desk, and Hitchcock and Scully had both been in the bathroom for over two hours. It was a particularly slow day, and Amy was attempting to complete some paperwork that had gotten backlogged during the squad’s informal Figgis investigation. She had one of the Taylor Swift songs from the stupid “Greatest Hits” CD Jake had made for her car stuck in her head, but she was efficiently moving through stacks of files. 

A young woman no older than twenty walked into the bullpen alone. When Amy greeted her head to greet who she had assumed was Rosa or Charles, she immediately jumped into detective mode. 

“Hi, I’m Detective Santiago, is everything alright?” 

“Oh yeah, I’m fine, I just had a meeting with Detective Jake Peralta,” the girl replied without meeting Amy’s eyes, immediately making her suspicious. When your boyfriend is in Witness Protection for over a month, you don’t take strangers lying about having plans to see them lightly. 

“I’m sorry, Detective Peralta’s not here at the moment, can I take a message?” Amy asked hesitantly. 

“No, I really need to speak with him. Will he be back soon?” the girl asked, the furrow in her brow the first sign of unhappiness she had exhibited to Amy. 

“I’m afraid he won’t be. Can I ask who you are?” Amy continued to question.

“I’m Talia,” she answered. “And Jake’s not answering his phone. Can I speak to Detective Diaz?”

“I’m afraid not, can I help you with something?” Amy repeated.

“No, I need-” Talia cut herself off, appearing to notice all the empty desks around her. “Can I talk to Sergeant Jeffords? Or Charles? God, where is Gina? Do you know where anyone else is?”

At this, Amy cautiously rose to her feet. “I’m going to need you to take a seat, can you explain what it is exactly that apparently everyone in the precinct can help you with that I can’t?”

Talia dropped herself into the chair next to Jake’s empty desk. She breathed deeply, shutting her eyes to collect herself.

“I’m sorry I’m being so weird, this must be so unsettling for you. This is probably also why Jake told me not to talk to you,” she eventually replied.

Amy perked up immediately. “Jake? When did you talk to Jake?”

“We had this talk a while ago, back before you started dating and all he had was big, dumb crush on you,” Talia said, rolling her eyes. 

“I’m sorry, who  _ are  _ you?” Amy asked again. With a sigh, Talia apparently deemed it fit to finally answer. 

“My name is Talia Cohen. I’m a junior at NYU and I just came back from a semester abroad. I’m- well, I was, I guess- an RA but this semester apparently messed that up so I don’t have housing at school and I really don’t have the money to live on campus without it getting covered, anyway. Jake’s my cousin, and I was hoping, since I’m his favorite, I’d be able to stay with him for a little while until I could find a place that wouldn’t bankrupt me more than student loans already have. Crushing debt is a family thing, apparently.” Talia spoke quickly, as if this was the only opportunity she would get to say it. “Jake’s clearly busy, but today has been a real shitshow and I don’t wanna take the bus all the way out to Aunt Karen’s when I have class tomorrow. I guess I’ll just wait here until someone comes back.”

“That sounds like a very unfortunate situation, I’m sorry you’ve had such a rough day,” Amy said softly. 

“Not your fault.” Talia replied, flashing Amy the same smile Jake had sent her before saying his goodbyes. “And I’m sorry for, like, refusing to talk to you earlier. Jake was kind of embarrassingly into you for a while. Gina and I used to make fun of him all the time, and he told me that he would never let us meet because I’d expose his darkest secrets and ruin his chances with you. Once you actually started dating, I think he wanted our actual meeting to be nice. And not in any way like this.” Talia sighed. “I guess I’ll just wait here for him to come back and yell at me.” Amy winced. 

“Talia, I’m not exactly sure how to tell you this, but-” 

Apparently, this was the perfect time for Gina to be “done leaving” and walk back into the bullpen

“Talia!” she cried before putting on an obnoxious British accent. “Back from across the pond, I see.” Talia giggled before standing up to embrace her.

“You are the reason they hate Americans over there,” she laughed. “I had a great time, but I’m glad to be back. I missed you guys.”

“Oh, we missed you too, bubblegum,” Gina said in her usual Gina fashion. “It was so boring here without you.”

“I’m sure you and Jake got in enough trouble on your own. Speaking of Jake and trouble, how mad do you think he’s going to be when he walks in and sees me talking to Amy?” 

Gina looked at Amy harshly, and Amy shook her head in response.  _ I didn’t tell her yet.  _ Gina nodded before grabbing Talia’s arm and walking her over to the break room with a small smile. “Listen up, little pup,” Amy heard her start before she shut the door behind them. 

Amy dropped her head on the desk, full of conflicting emotions. On one hand, it was obvious how much Talia loved her cousin, and she couldn’t imagine how or why she already didn’t know he was gone. Seeing her reaction to it was going to hurt Amy the same way Jake actually leaving did; another reminder that he was gone was not what she needed right now. She was also surprised by Talia as a whole. Jake had mentioned his mom’s siblings and their kids in the past, mostly embarrassing stories about all the bar and bat mitzvahs he had attended, but he and Talia were obviously very close. It seemed like she had known Gina for a long time, and she clearly knew the other detectives since she asked for them by name. How has Amy never met her? 

On the other hand, Amy felt a guilty sense of giddiness at the information she had been given. It had been so long without any sweet interaction with Jake, and having someone else genuinely tell her how much he had liked her, and how important she was to him, made her feel less and less like she had made their relationship up. On particularly bad days, Amy almost felt like her relationship with Jake was unreal, as if she was either overdramatizing how great it was in Jake’s absence, or like she was twelve years old again and her brother Raphael was making fun of her so she created a fake boyfriend with stories that were clearly too good to be true. Talia was a reminder of Jake being gone, but also of everything their relationship was based on.

Amy thoughts were interrupted when Gina walked back into the bullpen, closing the door behind her. She was uncharacteristically subdued, and took a seat on the corner of Amy’s desk.

“Tali is furious, but I know she’s more upset than she is angry. She’s on the phone with Karen right now,” Gina offered. 

“Gina, I am so sorry you had to be the one to tell her. I can’t believe she didn’t know.”

“Apparently, Jake told Karen not to tell anyone because he didn’t want to worry her when she was on another continent. I think he was hoping to be back before her, or at least be able to play it off as being too busy to see her for a little bit. He really loves that kid,” Gina said. The guilt Amy had been feeling earlier intensified. She suddenly felt as if the odd hours she, Rosa, and Charles had been finding to work on the Figgis case wasn’t enough. She opened her mouth to apologize to Gina, but was cut off.

“Don’t. You three have been working yourselves to the point of exhaustion trying to keep up with work without Jake and Holt on top of your self-assigned case. No one’s even reacted to my new Dancey Reagan banner on my desk. Jake knows he’s gonna have to stay gone for a while. He loves his family and he doesn’t want to hurt them, but he knows that even with you guys working as hard as you have been, this isn’t something that’s going to happen overnight. He trusts you guys to get him home, even if he has to be alone for a few months.”

Before Amy could reply, a few things happened at once. Charles and Rosa returned energetically with three cuffed men, placing them in the holding cell before catching sight of Amy and Gina and quieting down. 

“What happened here?” Rosa asked. As she finished up her sentence, her head whipped around to watch the break room door open. Talia emerged with her phone in hand, and she had obviously just been crying.

“Talia?” Rosa questioned, taking strides over to her. “What happened? Did you get mugged? Attacked? Do I need to kill someone?” she asked, rapid fire and gruff. Gina walked over and made Rosa take a step back.

“She’s fine, although I like your style, Diaz,” Gina said, standing in front of Talia. “It’s been a long day in Tali Town though so maybe give her some space.” 

“Do you want me to make you some herbal tea, Tali? Is your menstrual cycle causing you pain?”

“Boyle!” Gina snapped. “Go be gross somewhere else!” Talia let out a quiet, watery laugh.

“It’s okay, Charles, but thank you. I just came to see if I could stay with Jake for a little bit, but clearly he is not here, so I think I might head back to campus and see if I can sleep on someone’s floor.” 

“Uh, think again, boo! The spirit of your Nana would haunt me more than she already does if you didn’t come stay with me, and my psychic told me to avoid confrontation with the dead so that means you’ll be in Casa Linetti for the foreseeable future, until I get the all clear from Nana.” 

“Thank you, Gina, I’m gonna owe you about a thousand. Also, since you’re both here, congrats on your parents’ wedding. I was so bummed I wasn’t home for it. I did send Darlene a card though, I hope she liked it.” Gina gave her a thumbs up. “Oh, also, Rosa, congrats on the new boyf. You know how much I appreciate the updates on your love life.”  Rosa nodded.

Amy was not as surprised as she felt like she should be. The same inherent friendliness she had seen in both Jake and Karen was clearly reflected in Talia. And since she was apparently so important to Jake, it made sense that she was friendly with the squad. She only wondered how she had gone this long without meeting her.

“Well me and this girl are gonna get some take out and then take out the first season of Empire if you get what I’m saying. Toodles!” With that, Gina grabbed her coat and motioned to Talia, who got up to follow her after grabbing her own bag and sending them all a small smile. They were halfway to the elevator before she turned around.

“Gina told me what you guys are doing. Thank you, for working to keep Jake safe and bring him home.” Rosa and Charles both nodded, but Amy barely knew what to do with herself. When they were out of sight, she couldn’t contain her questions any longer.

“How do you guys all know her so well? Why have I never met her before?” Amy asked Rosa and Charles. To her surprise, it was Rosa who answered.

“Well, she and Jake have always been super close. They’re both only children, and both of their parents worked a lot, so they spent lots of time at their Nana’s house. When Talia’s family moved upstate, Jake already had his own place and was out of the academy, so she came to stay with him during the summer and stuff. Sometimes she would stay with him on random weekends, so he wouldn’t go to Shaw’s, and eventually we found out why. Gina had always known since she spent a lot of time at Nana’s too, and you never used to come to Shaw’s with us so you didn’t know when Jake didn’t show.” Rosa shrugged. “She’s a cool kid. Smart. Good to talk to. She’s like the sister I always wanted.”

“Don’t you have two sisters?”

“Your point?” 

“Anyway, you know Jakey really liked you, Amy. Gina already knew, since she saw you both every day, and Jake was afraid of them teaming up on him by messing around with you. I know he wanted you guys to meet pretty badly though. Oh, it almost brings tears to my eyes. Two of the most important women in his life!” Charles said.

“That’s enough, Boyle. It’s time to clock out, Santiago. See you tomorrow.”

Suddenly, Amy was alone in the bullpen again. The last hour seemed like a dream. Meeting this stranger who was so close to Jake and not being able to talk to Jake himself about it was suddenly killing her- she missed having her partner to talk things over with. What she said at the beginning of their relationship all those months ago still rang true. Screw light and breezy, the only person she wanted to talk to was him. 

 

_ Change #5: Telling her Family _

Growing up, Amy simultaneously flew under the radar and was often singled out. She was child number six of eight, so she knew how to blend in to the chaos her brothers created, but she was also the only girl, so there were some things only she had to deal with alone. Nothing really changed when her and her brothers became adults. Her second youngest brother, Luca,  brought home a new, “serious” girlfriend a year. The twins were always compared to each other, and always decided on new, random life paths to go on every few years. Her oldest brother, Raphael, was married and up to three children now, and the second oldest, Rudy, was the only openly gay Santiago to date. It was easy to find places to hide in a family like hers. 

She’s always been a daddy’s girl, though, and her father made sure to check in and keep himself updated on her life. Her father had also been in the NYPD, so she could get away with discussing workplace politics and interesting cases as updates. Throw in a story or two about some movie she and Kylie had seen recently, and he thought she was a well adjusted, career driven adult. 

Her mother was another story. Pilar Santiago was not a woman who let her kids get away with anything less than the truth, the full truth, and nothing but the truth, so help them God. She didn’t really care about police stories after being married to a cop for over thirty years, and she didn’t let Amy get off the hook with a few short anecdotes about her social life. She wanted facts, she wanted details, and she wanted all of her children to find love. 

Some of her brother’s made the right call by moving out of the area. Raphael went to Philly, and Dan one upped them all by going to California. Pilar Santiago has connections, but even she doesn’t have people to set you up with across the country. When she was in New Jersey and Amy was in Brooklyn, there appeared to be an infinite number of guys to be set up with. With three single brothers, any girl to be set up with was carefully examined and matched accordingly. Because Amy was the only girl and Rudy was now happily married, she got any and all men her mother deemed acceptable. 

After Jake and Amy started dating, Pilar admitted that she could always tell Amy had liked him and she set her up so much hoping to either help Amy get over him, or get her to admit her feelings. Amy personally thinks she made it up because she felt bad for all of the horrible dates she had forced her on. 

Regardless, the Santiagos knew about Jake. Only one of them had met him in person yet, but he was only the third boy Amy had mentioned to her parents and word traveled fast in the Santiago family. The two of them had skyped with Dan, spoken on the phone with Pilar and Victor, and Marco met him when he was sleeping on Amy’s couch after a particularly rough break up. As far as Amy knew, her family liked Jake, and she had been planning to bring him home to meet her parents when she got back from Texas. Spending so much time apart from him made her realize even more concretely how much she loved him, and she was eager for her family to love him too. She was even hoping to bring him to the biannual Santiago reunion, but it didn’t seem like he’d be home in time.

Amy realized that on a Friday three months after Jake and Holt were relocated. They were stalled in the Figgis case, and work was catching up to the whole squad since they’d been down two members for so long. She was overworked and exhausted, and realizing how long they’d been gone and how long it seemed it would be before they came back made her suddenly anxious. She had faith that Figgis was not going to hurt them, and they would come back eventually, but the thought of possible years before their return made her hands so anxious that she smudged her intricate signature on the paperwork she had been filing. 

Amy forced herself to take a deep breath and walk calmly to the bathroom. Once safely locked in a stall, and confident she had not been followed, she dialed her home phone number with shaky fingers.

“Amy,  _ mija _ , I was just telling your father it has been too long since we have heard from you!”

Just the sound of her mother’s voice made her want to cry and let everything out the same way she had when she was eight and Edgar had ruined her alphabetized bookcase. 

“Hi,  _ mamá, _ ” Amy replied. Immediately, her mother’s tone shifted.

“Amelia? Is everything alright?” Amy hesitated, blinking back tears.

“No,” she said finally.

“Oh,  _ mi conejita,  _ what is the matter?”

“There’s a lot going on,  _ mamá.  _ I just needed to hear a friendly voice for now. Will you and  _ papá  _ be home this weekend?”

“You know we are always home since your father’s retired. We haven’t gone anywhere since Rudy’s wedding last July,” her mother tsked. “And even if we had plans, we’re never too busy for our favorite daughter, eh, Victor?” Amy heard a muffled hearty agreement from her father, and her heart ached with that tiny piece of home. She could picture her parents, standing in the kitchen of the house she grew up in, her father gently hitting her mother on the arm for her quip about staying home before settling in behind her, ear against the outside of the phone to listen to the other end of the conversation. It had been too long since Amy had been home, and she needed it now more than ever. 

“I should get back to work,” Amy said after a brief pause. “I’ll take the train in on Saturday morning if someone would be able to pick me up. I can email  _ papá _ the details when I book my ticket.”

“Sounds like a plan,  _ mija.  _ We will see you then,” Amy’s mother replied. “We love you very much, and are always available for you when you need us, don’t you insult us by forgetting that.” 

“Of course not. Love you too, see you on Saturday,” Amy said before hanging up the phone. 

She went back into the bullpen and booked her train ticket home. Two days seemed like a long time to wait, but she was looking forward to having two days off to spend with her family instead of having two days without work to do more work. And Amy loved worked. Desperate times and all that.

(“What do you mean you’re cancelling for tomorrow?” Charles asked, wide eyed.

“There’s a family emergency, I have to head home for the weekend,” Amy replied, trying to appear confident and not at all like she was lying.

“You’re lying,” Gina pointed out. “There is no family emergency. What gives?”

“I’m not saying you guys can’t hang out, or that you can’t work on the case. I just need to be home this weekend, okay? I would suggest that we all take the weekend off. Charles, I know you’ve been wanting to take Nikolaj to that new Latvian restaurant. Gina, I know you have Downton Abbey to catch up on. Rosa… okay, I don’t know what you do, but I’m sure you’re behind on it.”

“She’s right. I am,” Rosa offered. 

“I think a short break would do us all good. I’ll see you guys on Monday,” Amy said at the end of her shift on Friday. She went home to pack a bag and set a 7:30 am alarm so she wouldn’t miss her nine o’clock train.)

Amy couldn’t think of a time she felt more palpable relief than when she saw her father at the train station on Saturday morning. After a quick salute and a hug (that did not last long enough, in Amy’s opinion) they were in her parent’s old car driving through Amy’s hometown. When they arrived at her childhood home, there were a few more cars in the driveway than she had expected.

“ _ Papá _ ? Who else is home?” Amy asked.

“Eh, no one special,” her father replied, not meeting her eye. “Just Rudy and Alex and the twins.” Amy gasped.

“Did  _ mamá  _ call a Code 5? Are Rudy and Greg getting divorced? Did one of the twins get someone pregnant? I can’t even think of  _ what  _ Alex could have done- is it bad? Why didn’t anyone tell me?” Victor turned off the car without making a move to get out of the car.

“Oh, God,” Amy gasped. “Am I the Code 5? I’m the Code 5. I never thought I’d see the day.”

The Code 5 was a very serious and very rarely used Santiago family ritual. If one sibling was having a major emergency, a message was sent to the rest with a time and place and at least four of them had to attend. Amy had been a part of four Code 5’s in her lifetime. Once when Rudy came out, once when Luca debated dropping out of college, and twice when her mother had found one way tickets in her brother Dan’s room and thought he was running away from some sort of mob involvement. And now Amy was the cause of a Code 5 because she was running home due to some mob involvement. 

When she finally composed herself enough to get out of the car, she walked through the door her father was holding open for her. She could already see her brothers and her mother sitting on the old floral couches, ready to ambush her. Ambush her with love and support, sure, but an ambush all the same.

“ _ Mamá  _ my call did  _ not  _ require a Code 5!” Amy started immediately.

“Oh, hello, Amy. It’s so nice to see you, as well. How long has it been?” Alex mocked.

“Hi everyone,” Amy said darkly. “Thank you for coming, but I don’t need a Code 5.”

“So you didn’t need a Code 5,” her mother began. “But you clearly need some family time! Come here to me.”

Amy dropped her bag and walked into her mother’s arms. There was a moment of genuine comfort before her brothers joined in, squashing the girls in the middle. Amy laughed for the first time in what felt like weeks. 

“There we go!” Edgar said. “Code 5 or not, operation successful!” 

When they all returned to the couches and Amy was handed a mug of tea, she knew that was her cue to start talking. She sighed, trying to figure out where to start, and how much she could give away. 

“So you know my boyfriend, Jake,” Amy began slowly, laughing at Rudy literally leaning closer to her to listen. “And you know I was undercover for a while in a prison.” She looked up and saw six pairs of Santiago eyes staring at her intently. 

“I was undercover to find details on a pretty famous mob boss who had placed a hit on a detective in our precinct. He dropped off the grid, but the people who paid the assassin were traced back to the FBI. We started a full internal investigation.” She took a deep breath. “Our captain was taken hostage by one of the mob boss’ men. We got him back, and put some men on the inside away, but the boss himself called to threaten Jake and Holt. They’re in Witness Protection, and I have no idea where they are… It’s been five months.” Amy finished quietly. “It feels like a lifetime.”

“Oh,  _ mi conejita _ , I am so sorry.”

“Not your fault,” Amy laughed bitterly. “We’re running a secret investigation on Figgis, and trying to keep up with actual police work, and Jake’s not here, and it’s just been a long few months. I miss him so much,” she said, frustratedly wiping away tears. To her surprise, it was Dan who came over to put an arm around her shoulders. 

“It’s gonna be alright, Ames,” he said. “He’s gonna come home and we’re all gonna have a big barbeque, right?” A few of her brothers nodded in reply. 

“You didn’t even need this Code 5,” Rudy offered. “If I were in your position, I would have tried to call a Full Monty on day one.” 

“I just really, really, love him. And I can’t wait for you guys to meet him,” Amy said, still sniffling softly.

“He sounds like a great man,  _ mija.  _ And a great cop. I worry less about you knowing he is the one at your side,” her father said. Amy smiled. 

The rest of her weekend was probably the least stressful since Jake and Holt had left. Her family reacting so well to Jake and their relationship, even with this giant obstacle, continued to renew her faith in it in the same way Talia’s comments had. Though she was worried about the friendships that were sure to be formed between Jake and her brothers, she couldn’t wait for him to come home so she could experience them first hand. The way her family looked at her with a new sense of respect was also a change she could live with. 

 

_ +1: Jake & Amy  _

When Amy first heard Holt had called Terry, she almost thought it was a joke. They had been putting in a ridiculous amount of time after each shift to try to pin Figgis down, when apparently all Jake and Holt had to do was get hit by a go-kart and break basically every rule of Witness Protection. Once she realized Terry was serious, however, all she wanted to do was be in Florida. 

(“Amy! I feel betrayed! Florida ruined my life, it is the garbage dump of America and I’ve never valued Brooklyn more than I did while I was there. How could you want to leave the best place on Earth for the absolute worst?” Jake had accused when they were both home and curled up in bed after his debriefing.

“Guess I just missed you that much,” Amy said, shrugging and faking a casual tone. 

“God, I love you,” Jake said for the hundredth time since they had been back together. She leaned up to kiss him for the thousandth time, and the surprised and awed noise he made made her heart hurt as much as it made it burst.) 

After frantically calling the Nine-Eight to get time off and dropping Talia at Charles’ to watch Nikolaj and stay with him and Genevieve while Gina was gone, the squad was on the road. Not even a day long road trip with Hitchcock and Scully or Terry and Charles’ weird dad-off could distract her. She was ready to kick some ass and kiss the love of her life for the first time in six months. Nothing could bring her down.

Of course, punching Jake in the throat immediately wasn’t exactly the reunion she’d been hoping for. Through their slight awkwardness during the preparation, Amy couldn’t help but think that Florida was maybe not where she wanted to be. She and Jake hadn’t been this off balance since they had first became partners, and it scared her. She loved Jake with everything she had, but maybe she had been undervaluing the life-changing aspects of even temporary new identities. This wasn’t an undercover mission where Jake was playing himself, this was an entirely new person who had frosted tips. What if they didn’t work romantically anymore? What if he broke up with her because she couldn’t actually find Figgis? What if- 

“Ames,” Jake called. “It’s showtime. Figgis just showed up.” The adrenaline that flooded her system put her on autopilot. They had a well thought out plan, there was a clear goal to accomplish, she was in the zone. And that zone was where she and Jake found their footing again. Jake liked to say they were partners in the field as well as partners in life, and, while Amy had always found it endearing, she really understood it. The trust that was imperative to any healthy relationship was there before they even liked each other as people. That trust made Amy go after Jake, made Jake tell Amy to shoot him in the leg, and made Amy meet him in the ambulance as soon as possible. Any fears she had of a breakup were squashed as soon as they kissed again in private. Jake had always admitted and recognized that he was terrible with showing emotion, but he told her how much pain he was even after he was pretending for the stranger addressing his leg. In that moment, Amy somehow found even more love in her heart to assign as Jake’s. 

While the squad drove home, Amy sat in the airport with Holt, Jake, and their complementary leg injuries. Holt had hobbled to a somewhat quiet corner to call Kevin, and Jake was reclining against Amy’s side with his leg propped up on the bench beside them. 

“Ames?” Jake said quietly, half asleep and half high on pain meds. Amy made a quiet noise in response and stroked his head softly. “Really missed you. Don’t wanna do that again,” he said. Amy’s heart did that weird clenching/expanding thing again.

“Me either, babe. Try to sleep a little, I’ll wake you up when we need to board.” 

“Mmkay,” Jake hummed back, turning his head away from the chaos of the airport in front of them. “Tell Holt that I hope he enjoyed the first  _ leg  _ of his trip.” He opened a bleary eye to peek at her. “Get it, Ames? Leg?” Amy laughed.

“I got it, Pineapples. I hope he doesn’t get jet _ leg  _ from the trip.” Jake laughed in surprise and smiled wide, nothing like the smile he had given her when leaving Brooklyn.

“I love you so much, you know that? So much. My  clever, funny, smart, beautiful girlfriend,” Amy smiled and kissed his forehead. Jake took that as his cue to actually try to sleep. Holt stumbled back a few minutes later, and Amy could swear she saw a fond smile at the corners of his mouth.

“Though this might not be my place to say… Jacob missed you a great deal. I am very pleased to see you two reunited,” he said.

“Thank you, Captain. It means a lot to hear that. I missed his as well; we all did. We missed you too, and I’m sure you’re excited to see Kevin,” Amy offered in return. 

“Oh I am positively bursting. I am, in fact, a little embarrassed to be acting so juvenilely thrilled in front of two of my detectives.” 

“It’s good to have you back, sir.”

“Good to be back, detective.” 

With both Jake and Holt asleep beside her when the map on the screen in front of her showed their plane crossing into New York, Amy realized they really were back. Jake was already curled up over the armrest into Amy’s seat, head on her shoulder and arms wrapped around one of her own, but he was  _ Jake  _ now, not Larry. Holt will be back with Kevin and Cheddar, and back to the job he’s been unfairly removed from for too long. Jake will be back to his own apartment, Die Hard posters and all. He’ll be back to his mom’s place, and to see his goddaughter, and his cousin. He’ll be back to officially meet Amy’s family (even though he missed the reunion), and back to make messes and work cases with her and paint Gina’s nails at his desk during a work day. He’ll be back to warm Amy’s bed. 

She couldn’t hold back a tear as she gently woke Jake up.

“Hey, babe,” she smiled. “Welcome home.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! A big thanks to elsaclack (both on here and on tumblr) for writing incredible stuff that gave me the fanfic bug. And thanks to New York winters for giving me the time to write this!  
> This monster was over thirty-two full pages on google docs when I was done writing it. This is my first fic, and my first time posting on ao3 even though I’ve been reading on here for years. I really did not expect it to be over 10k. I would prefer it be gentle, but feedback of all kinds is more than encouraged! These characters are very well formed in canon and I’m afraid I might have slipped up with some voices/ dynamics, but I’m hoping to write more for b99 so hopefully it will get better! I also had a lot of fun creating family members for each of them (arguably a little too much fun but what can you do) and the Santiago dynamic is a joy to explore! I adopted the names of the Santiago brothers from “for you are my fate” by Lymans (which was incredible, go read it if you haven't already). I've seen a few fics where Amy's mom's name is Pilar, which I like, and it's canon that her dad's name is Victor, so that was way easier.  
> Also, mi conejita means “my little bunny” basically. I saw it in a movie we watched in Spanish and I thought it was adorable, and fit a young Amy who I could see sprinting around after her brothers. Additionally, a Full Monty is a gathering of all eight Santiago siblings and their parents.  
> Come talk to me on tumblr at sleepysuburbs.tumblr.com!


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